Party Time
by wildFlower21
Summary: It's Ducky's birthday and the team is throwing him a surprise. Will they get away with it? Will they be able to not say a word to Ducky?


**I do not own NCIS**

**Party Time**

Bright and early Monday morning Gibbs and Jenny were standing on the balcony overlooking the Bull Pen before anyone was there, when it was nice and quiet.

"I'm having a surprise birthday party for Ducky this Friday night, assuming we don't get a heavy case load." Gibbs told Jenny.

"I thought you always said never assume anything." Jenny retorted with a slight grin.

"Well ya Jen, but it might just be one of those weeks. The party is at my house, 6:30, okay?" Gibbs answered back.

"Okay, I'm in." Jenny replied.

Like clock work, when 7:30 am came around the elevator doors open and out walked Ziva. Gibbs picked up his cell phone and called her.

"Ziva, I need you to do something for me." Gibbs started. "What are you doing Friday night?" he asked.

There was a pause. By now Jenny had a wide smile on her face knowing what Gibbs was up to.

"Great, here's what I want you do. Now listen carefully. I'm organizing a surprise birthday party for Ducky this Friday night at 6:30, my place. Here's the catch, if we tell DiNozzo, McGee or Palmer, Ducky will find out about the party, so you need to get the three of them to my house that night anyway you can. If you need help, ask Abby or the Director sometime this week." Gibbs explained.

"Oh and Ziva, tell no one, Do you understand?" Gibbs added.

Pause.

"Good." Gibbs said, and clicked the phone off.

Jenny just looked at him in awe, of how he was not giving out too much information to anyone.

"So how are you going to tell Abby?" Jenny asked.

"You'll see." Gibbs said very cheeky as he started downstairs to greet his team with a cup of coffee in hand. He gave a quick smile to Ziva as he sat down at his desk. Gibbs sat down at his desk looking over the usual Monday reports, when Tony came through the elevator doors and settled down to his own desk, when McGee came trough the elevator doors next, carrying a large bag.

"Hey Probie, What do you have in the bag?" Tony questioned McGee.

"Oh, nothing, Abby asked me to bring it to work today." McGee answered as he walked over to Gibbs and gave him the big bag that Abby had asked him to take. Gibbs took one look inside the big bag and leapt up.

"Anyone who touches the bag, Ziva will break your fingers one at a time." Gibbs shouted as he walked to Abby's lab.

When Gibbs got to Abby's lab, he found that Ducky was already there talking to Abby.

"I really don't want you to fuss over my birthday, Jethro insists on cooking dinner for me this Friday night." Ducky told Abby.

"I won't Ducky. I promise." Abby answered.

Gibbs knocked softly on the window and signed:_ I want you at my house by 6:30 Friday night for Ducky's surprise Birthday party. Don't tell Ducky. We'll talk later. _

Then after signing Gibbs walked into Abby's lab to talk to Abby and Ducky.

"Hey Ducky." Gibbs began cheerfully.

"Hello Jethro." Ducky replied before realizing that he was up to something just by the tone of his voice, but Ducky found it best to let the suspicion slide.

"How was your weekend?" Gibbs asked

"It went quite well thank you for asking. Mother and I went ..." Ducky trailed off talking about is weekend.

Abby looked at Gibbs and tried to get his attention. Once caught Abby started to sign: _what can I do to help with the party? _

Gibbs was facing Ducky so he couldn't answer he back, but then Ziva went into Abby's lab with the big bag. Setting the bag on the floor she walked over to Ducky and Gibbs.

"Ducky, excuse me for interrupting, but the director was looking for you." Ziva said

"Oh, thank you Ziva. We'll pick this up later won't we Jethro?" Ducky asked.

"Of course duck." Gibbs answered.

When Gibbs was sure that Ducky could no longer hear, he asked if Ziva or Abby had any questions.

"What can I do to help?" Abby asked

"I need you to help Ziva to get Tony, McGee and Palmer to my house by 6:30pm on Friday night. That leaves a half an hour to explain the surprise party to them. We also need to car pool, so when Ducky comes, nothing looks out of the ordinary. Jenny is coming home with me on Friday night to help put up decorations." Gibbs explained the plan.

"I'll come with you, Gibbs." Abby inserted.

"And I'll manage getting the guys into a car."Ziva interjected.

"Good. Oh, and we're meeting with the director on Wednesday morning in her office, regardless of the case we're working on." Gibbs explained. Gibbs then walked out of Abby's office and went towards the bull pen.

"Do we have a case yet boss?" Tony yelled to Gibbs.

"Nope." Gibbs answered as he walked over to the box on his desk. "We get cold case files. Ziva, this one's your copy; I want you to go through it with a fine tooth comb. DiNozzo, run down every lead you possibly can twice that have been marked, and if you come up with anything new marked it down as well. McGee, this is your copy, start entering it into the computer. Once your done those there are more cold case files in the box." Gibbs assigned, while his team was standing there, just listening to him.

"Now!" Gibbs yelled.

"On it boss." Tony yelled as everyone rushed back to work.

_Oh, this was going to be a fun week. _– Gibbs thought.

Gibbs had his team working on Cold cases for the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday; yet by the time Wednesday came around Tony and McGee felt that there was something going on that they weren't being apart of.

On Wednesday, just before 10:00am, the director's office was packed for a secret meeting.

"So, what's the plan?" Gibbs started as he sat on the couch near Abby.

"At 5:00 sharp, you, Abby and I will leave work, on our way home we will stoop at the supermarket and pick up a cake, dinner and decorations." Jenny started.

"When Jenny starts making dinner, Gibbs and I will be putting up the decorations and making your house nice." Abby followed.

"I will invite Tony, McGee and Palmer to my house for 6:00, assuming that they make it there on time we will be there by 6:30 to finish helping set up by 7:00pm." Ziva ended.

"Good. Looks like you guys thought of everything. Good Job." Gibbs answered to their wonderful plan.

**Back at the Bull Pen**

"What do you think is going on up therein the director's office?" Tony asked McGee.

"I don't know Tony, but asking such questions gets you Gibbs slapped." McGee quickly answered hearing Ziva and Abby come down the stairs.

'And where have you two been?" Tony asked.

"In a secret meeting with Gibbs and the Director." Abby explained.

"I know that, But why where you in a secret meeting with Gibbs and the director?" Tony continued.

"They were helping me with a problem that I no longer have because they have helped me overcome it." Ziva explained.

"And what problem would that be?" Tony continued his investigation.

"Don't any of you have work to do?" Gibbs hollered at his team and they went scrambling.

In the late afternoon, Ziva decided to begin inviting people over to her house so that she could drive them to Gibbs' house on Friday. She decided to start with McGee, because he was always scared of saying no to Ziva. After getting the right response from McGee, Ziva moved on to Tony which was slightly harder, but still a challenge.

BY the time Friday afternoon came around, the whole team, plus the director were wired. Tony, McGee and Palmer couldn't stop talking about dinner at Ziva's and the director along with Gibbs were talking privately in the director's office. By 5:00 sharp, Abby was sitting at Gibbs' desk.

Like clockwork, several seconds later Gibbs and Jenny came walking down the stairs.

"Come on Abby, I'll drive you home." Gibbs called out to Abby; she and Jenny fell into place as Gibbs walked into the elevator. Gibbs nodded to Ziva just as the door closed. Ziva, Tony, McGee and Palmer left shortly.

The drive to Gibbs' house was a fast one considering all the stops they made. They first stop was at the Supermarket to pick up a few things along with a cake. The second stop was at Jenny's house to get her gift, while Abby already brought Ducky's present to Gibbs' house when he drove her to work this morning. Finally when Gibbs, Jenny and Abby made it to the house, the team was already there, to Jenny's astonishment.

"Apparently they already knew about the surprise party and where just playing along." Ziva said in amazement.

"That's why I hired them." Gibbs explained. "Come on, there's a lot to do."

The team followed Gibbs into his house to decorate. By 6:45 dinner was almost done, the whole house was decorated and everyone was very excited that they were going to have the best party of the year. At 7:00pm, Ducky pulled into the driveway.

"He's here!" Abby yelled as she looked out of the living room window; Abby was sitting on the couch backwards watching all the cars go by, making sure that everyone would be warned when Ducky came.

"Okay. You heard Abby, Everyone hide." Tony yelled back.

"But why are we hiding?" Ziva asked.

"Come on Ziva. I'll explains why we're hiding while we're hiding, okay?" Jenny Told Ziva.

"Okay."Ziva answered as she followed Jenny into a backroom where everyone else was hiding.

*Ding Dong* went the door bell.

"Hey Duck." Gibbs greeted Ducky.

"Well hello Jethro." Ducky answered, "I didn't even see you at work today."

"It must have been a busy day, come on in." Gibbs invited his good friend.

"What's all the decoration for?" Ducky asked.

"Happy Birthday!!" The team yelled, jumping out of their hiding places.

"I see what you mean director. It is quite exciting doing that." Ziva told Jenny.

"That's good Ziva." Jenny answered.

"Thank you everyone." Ducky said as Gibbs patted him on the back.

"Happy Birthday old Friend." Gibbs said quietly.

Abby ran over to Ducky and gave him a huge hug, followed by Jenny and Ziva.

"Can we open up gifts now?" Abby asked.

"He hasn't even had time to sit down Abby." Gibbs told Abby

"It's just so exciting that we got away with something so big." Abby replied.

"Please sit." Gibbs told everyone.

Once everyone did, the timer on the stove went off, and Jenny along with Ziva went into the kitchen to get the rest of supper ready. Several minutes later Jenny called out from the kitchen.

"Dinner's ready."

The group moved from the living room into the dinning room which had also been decorated. Throughout diner, Ducky was unusually quiet, listening to the conversations of his friends_...his family..._in awe. That these people that he was eating with would go through so much just to throw this party for him. When dinner was done, Abby was ready to explode with excitement, for she had picked out Ducky's cake herself. Ducky's cake was chocolate with white frosting and had blue writing on it. The cake read: _Happy Birthday Ducky Love your NCIS family. _Ducky looked at them speechlessly.

"Well, make a wish." Gibbs urged, and that's what Ducky did.

"So, what did you wish for?" Abby asked

"Abby...shhh. That would be cheating, he can't tell you, it won't come true if you say." Tony corrected Abby.

"Does anyone want ice cream with their cake?" Gibbs asked

"You brought ice cream for cake?" Jenny asked surprised

"Well ya, Ziva gave me the idea." Gibbs answered.

"I want ice cream." Abby shouted.

"Me Too." McGee said shortly after.

"Me three." Tony said with a slight delay.

"I would like some too, Gibbs." Ziva said during the shouting.

"Okay, what kind?" Gibbs told the crowd after they quieted down.

"You bought different kinds?" Jenny asked even more surprised at this point.

"Well ya. Abby likes vanilla, McGee and Tony like chocolate, and both you and Ziva like Strawberry ice cream. While Ducky doesn't like ice cream on cake." Gibbs explained.

"Well Jethro, I'm impressed that you remembered all that." Ducky commented.

Gibbs smiled and left the room to go into the kitchen to get the ice cream. He came out with 3 tubs, with one smaller than the other 2. The smaller one was vanilla that went immediately to Abby. After everyone was done eating their cake with ice cream, they had moved back into the living room to finally open presents.

Abby's present was first; once everyone had sat down after dinner, Abby rushed over and gave Ducky his first present. Abby's present was in a bag with skulls on the sides, Ducky took the bag gingerly from her and looked inside the bag, pulling out the tissue paper he found a rather large box. Ducky then pulled out the box, opened it up and found a picture frame with a picture of bullet going through an apple in distorted colours.

"Thank you Abigail." Ducky said.

"You're welcome Ducky." Abby answered, as she gave him a hug.

"My turn." Tony said enthusiastically as he jumped out of his seat and ran over to Ducky with his present.

Tony's gift was wrapped in blue paper and had a bow on the top. Ducky took the gift and Tony sat back down where his spot had been across the room. Ducky ripped the paper where it was taped and found a shoe box. He opened the shoe box and found two objects wrapped in tissue paper. One object was a Mickey Mouse stapler and the other object was a Donald Duck coffee mug. With a quick laugh, Ducky put both object back into the box, and looked up to see Tony's face beaming.

"Thank you Anthony." Ducky said.

"You're welcome Ducky." Tony answered.

Ziva then quietly picked up her gift and bright it over to Ducky without saying a word, than walked back to her seat near Tony. Ziva's gift, like Tony's was in a box, only hers was smaller. Ducky unwrapped it and found that the box was from a clothing store, for its logo was still on the side of the box. Ducky opened the box and found that it was a new bow tie that was dark blue.

"Thank you Ziva." Ducky told her.

"You're welcome Ducky." Ziva answered.

Palmer was sitting next to Ducky so he handed him a card. Ducky opened the card and found a gift card to the new restaurant that he had been meaning to try.

"Thank you Jimmy." Ducky said

"You're welcome." Palmer replied.

Next it was McGee to give Ducky his gift. His gift was the most different from everyone's. McGee walked over to Ducky with a neatly wrapped object that was quite a fair size. Ducky was astonished to see the size of McGee's gift. McGee handed it to him than walked back to his seat. Ducky, not knowing what to do, slowly opened the object, only to discover the reason for the size of the object was that it was wrapped only a couple hundred times with tissue paper before being wrapped in wrapping paper. The object was a new bag that was just the right size to put files into from work.

"Thank you Tim." Ducky called to McGee.

"You're welcome Ducky." McGee called back.

Then it was Jenny's turn. Her gift, like Ziva's was small, but it had some weight to it. Jenny walked over to Ducky and passed him her gift. She then sat on the other side of Gibbs closest to Ducky. Ducky began to open the present, and then noticing that he couldn't get into the gift, he looked up at Jenny.

"You attack the present with tape again didn't you Jen?" Gibbs asked.

"Maybe I went a little over board." Jenny replied.

"A little?" Gibbs asked again as he passes his knife to Ducky so he could get into the present a little easier.

Jenny's present was a picture in a picture frame, just like Abby's, but the picture was the only difference. The picture in the frame was of Jenny, Ducky and Gibbs about 10 years ago when they worked together in Europe. A tear made its way down Ducky's face.

"Oh Jennifer, Thank you so very much." Ducky whispered to her.

"You're welcome Ducky." Jenny replied.

"Where did you get the picture from?" Ducky asked.

"I actually got it from Jethro and asked Abby to make a couple copies." Jenny replied.

"It's wonderful." Ducky said.

Gibbs was the last person to give his gift to Ducky. He got up and walked a little ways and handed a box like shape to Ducky. Ducky unwrapped the box and found that it was hand made out of wood. Ducky opened the box and looked inside, then looked at Gibbs whose face by now was beaming with happiness.

"Thank you Jethro. It's very unique." Ducky said as he looked from the inside of the box to Gibbs just one more time before closing the box.

"You're welcome Duck." Gibbs answered and he got up and started picking up the wrapping paper. "Can I get anybody anything, like tea or coffee?" Gibbs asked before he went out into the kitchen.

Everyone grumbled no, and Gibbs left the living room and went to the kitchen. Then he went back into the living room, and found that everyone was in small groups talking; Abby, McGee and Palmer were talking about something quietly, then there was Ziva and Tony who were arguing about something, and in the corner there was Jenny and Ducky talking about the good old times in Europe. Gibbs entered the group with Jenny and Ducky; the night carried on quickly and slowly people started to leave Gibbs' house, starting with Ziva and Tony and Palmer. The three of them bid Ducky good night and then they left. Jenny Gibbs and Ducky had then spiralled into an intense conversation and had managed to loose track of time. When Ducky looked at the clock he got up from his chair and gathered his presents, then he looked at the couch where Abby and McGee were sleeping there. Gibbs helped Ducky load his car, Jenny gave him a hug along with Gibbs.

Once inside the house Jenny sat down on a chair and put her head down for what she thought it was just a couple minutes, but she too fell asleep. Gibbs walked into the living room with several blankets for McGee, Abby and Jenny. He looked around the room at the decorations that were still up around the room, then sat down with Jenny and fell asleep as well.

**Please review**


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